Last night’s episode was like Wildlife on One without David Attenborough. We saw the pack mentality in action and it wasn’t pretty and despite Lord Sugar being fully aware of this it was still poor Rhys Rosser who got the chop.
Afterwards the Rosser admitted "I've always had a slight inferiority complex about my height but it is not an issue anymore” and I just wanted to cry for him (can you imagine how his Mammy - oops sorry Mummy felt?). He has been a consistently strong contender in the competition but somehow last night he did fail to perform and any confidence he did have was quickly knocked out of him by his unhelpful team mates – Tim ‘dodge the bullet’ Ankers, Hannah ‘apparently really smart actually’ Cherry and Kirsty ‘it’s not cool mate’ Cleaver.
It was ‘Mean Girls’ in action.
Tim’s “I’m just making sure you’re still alive and have got a pulse” comment seemed to visibly deflate poor Rhys and after that he just spent the rest of the task telling his team-mates how great they were (when clearly – with the exception of Kirsty – they were anything but). I particularly have an issue with Hannah who has demonstrated little other than an ability to judge her fellow contestants at this point. Remember this is the girl with the top secret invention who to date has come up with zero ideas on any of the tasks. I really felt her time was up last night and was surprised that Rhys went.
Lord Sugar did send him home on a high however telling him "Rhys, you are a very special person, don't ever forget that - I said it.” Ah shucks!
Kirsty impressed last night but her tendency to be led was also apparent and she was more than happy to take her foot off the selling gas when it seemed the task was lost. She is one to watch however.
Tim definitely has something to offer and has proved himself an ideas man in previous tasks but boy does he like an easy life? His main problem seems to be laziness – one week it was wind halting his gallop while last night his disinterest in food prevented him from volunteering to be project manager. He’s a typical teenager really (despite looking like a 35-year-old) – he could be great but wouldn’t it just be much easier to hide in the kitchen (he got over that food phobia then) and ice a cup-cake every hour or so.
He has totally goosed himself now in any case and next week regardless of the task he will be project manager. Finally he has to put up or shut up.
On the other side of the house you have the unstoppable force that is Zoe, the steely determination of Emma and maths master Arjun. Oh and not forgetting my own personal favourite Adam. Clearly last week’s events and his battle in the boardroom got the better of poor Mr Eliaz and he was well off his game last night. He was apparently sick and kept expressing an interest in going to bed (overtired as that car ad would say). Lord Sugar took pity on him and showed him the door which is a great loss to the show. It is not a loss however to the Cupcake world!
Zoe continued to irritate last night and was slightly reprimanded by Lord Sugar who reminded her that it is the job of the sales people to understand the production process and not to put the production team under too much pressure. Like her or loathe her you cannot deny she is a contender and probably the one to beat. I am sure that Emma would not agree with that assessment. She’s a shrewd one and putting her with Zoe and Arjun made Team Revolution an unstoppable force! I suspect Sugar will shuffle the decks again next week.
That leaves just Arjun who is my favourite to win at the moment. He has performed consistently well on all the tasks and has avoided the game-playing that so many of the others have fallen into. Don’t under-estimate the power of the maths geek – they are the guys who actually figure out how to make a profit and Lord Sugar certainly demonstrated last night that he values that contribution. Why not put him in charge next week and see how he does?
Bree Treacy
